Residents, tribal members and health experts urge halt to Otter Creek coal exports and warn of local harms

Speakers at a Missoula public forum urged opposition to the proposed Otter Creek and Tongue River coal development and to long coal-train shipments that would move Montana coal to West Coast ports and overseas. Elena Buffalo Spirit, a member of the Northern Cheyenne Nation, said she traveled to Washington, D.C., with the Northern Plains Resource Council to lobby Montana’s senators and asked, “Who wants to ruin this?” as she described the landscape around Otter Creek.

The forum brought together tribal members, former miners, health professionals and residents who described environmental, health and economic risks. "Children are the canaries in the coal mine for our environment," said Paul Smith, a pediatric pulmonologist at Community Medical Center, linking coal pollution, rising ozone and wildfire smoke to increasing asthma rates and pediatric lung disease. Bill Ritchie, who worked in the coal mining industry, said that while miners worked hard, the industry’s byproducts — including carbon dioxide, mercury and other pollutants — impose growing health costs.

Witnesses described specific local effects they expect from frequent, heavy coal-train traffic. An unidentified Missoula resident who said they regularly see trains from a bike bridge warned that projections of "20 to 40 trains a day" would bring constant noise, dust and potential public-safety blockages at crossings. Elena Buffalo Spirit and others emphasized the project’s effects on tribal ancestral lands and small towns along the rail corridor.

Several speakers placed the local debate in broader environmental context. One speaker cited atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration near 400 parts per million in May 2013 as part of a long-term warming trend and argued that phasing out coal combustion is essential to address climate change. Others linked shrinking snowpack, earlier runoff and longer summer droughts to risks for fisheries, ski seasons and wildfire-driven declines in tourism.

Testimony also addressed economic arguments for the projects. Some speakers acknowledged that mineral industries pay taxes but warned that mechanized operations create fewer long-term local jobs than in the past and that reclamation cannot fully restore damaged landscapes. Harold Holm, raised in Butte, described how protests have arisen along rail lines and internationally as coal-export plans have developed.

The forum included calls for alternatives and policy responses. One speaker outlined a global strategy that would withdraw fossil-fuel subsidies, fund clean-energy transfers to developing countries and adopt mandatory, annual carbon-efficiency standards. Others urged accelerated deployment of wind and solar in Western states.

The event closed with a plea from Elena Buffalo Spirit that attendees and officials oppose the projects for the sake of future generations: “If we don't speak out, who's gonna do that for our grandchildren?”